Day three of the familiarization and oversight tour of sports facilities yesterday saw the Members of Parliament on the Education and Sports Committee visit the town of Masindi and city of Hoima, to inspect Hoima City Stadium and the cluster of training grounds meant to serve Uganda's second designated venue for the historic Pamoja AFCON 2027.
State Minister for Sports Hon. Peter Ogwang and National Council of Sports (NCS) Chairman Ambrose Tashobya were on hand to receive the Parliamentarians, joining Board Members Moses Anyii Omara, Piloya Evelyn Gloria, Cecilia Anyakoit and General Secretary Dr Bernard Patrick Ogwel in taking them around.
The stops included the steadily progressing King George Stadium in Masindi, the recently commenced Sir Tito Winy which will start out as a training ground but ultimately morph into the first ever National Sports Academy, the relatively advanced Booma Ground, and finally the magnificent Hoima City Stadium itself, recently declared by African football body CAF as AFCON 2027's most ready venue across East Africa.
Central to the discussions in the Committee's crowing session chaired by Hon. Lilloan Obiale Paparu (District Woman Representative Arua) later in the evening, the Parliamentarians expressed two major concerns.
One was to the UPDF on the pace of progress on the training grounds relative to the tight timelines ahead of CAF inspections at the end of the year, and the AFCON tournament itself only nine months away. The Engineering Brigade, which has to work on multiple fronts concurrently, re-committed to beating the deadlines, assuring the Committee that they will do whatever it takes, even if it means working day and night.
The other concern was about government's capacity to regularly use and maintain the impressive national treasures that are Hoima City Stadium and Akii-Bua Olympic Stadium, in response to which Chairman Tashobya and General Secretary Dr Ogwel articulated the elaborate plans which included hiring of reputable, experienced firms, the recruitment of more NCS staff, and strategies to widely market the multi-sports, multi-purpose nature of the facilities to different stakeholders (Uganda for example this year won the bid to host the African Games of 2031).
On this tour, the Committee had earlier visited the Teryet National High Altitude Centre in Kapchorwa, Akii-Bua Olympic Stadium, Lira University Training ground, Pece Stadium and Gulu University training ground. They will wind up in Kampala with stops at the Mandela National Stadium Namboole and its cluster of training grounds at Kyambogo University, Makerere University and the Kadiba Stadium.